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Why 'The Phantom Pain' Is Probably 'Metal Gear Solid V'

Debuting at the 2012 VGAs, the mysterious trailer for ‘The Phantom Pain’ is almost certainly a teaser for Metal Gear Solid V.

The mysterious Phantom Pain trailer that debuted at the 2012 VGAs by the equally mysterious Moby Dick Studios is almost certainly a Metal Gear Solid game, and more than likely Metal Gear Solid V.

I know this has been widely speculated already, and pretty solid evidence has been gathered, but it’s fun to speculate so I’m jumping on the bandwagon.

So let’s take a look at some of the evidence pointing to The Phantom Pain actually being Metal Gear Solid V.

1. Metal Gear Teaser Image: “From Fox Two Phantoms Were Born”

Okay, so this image was released on Konami’s MGS 25th anniversary site earlier this year:

It’s an image for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. But it could be an image teasing more than one game . Two phantoms? Phantom Pain? That’s no accident.

2. The bandaged protagonist could easily be Big Boss

Here’s the picture of a graying Big Boss from Ground Zeroes:

Note the patch. Now here’s the figure from Phantom Pain:

This looks like the same man to me, only before he had the patch, and just after he lost his eye. Same basic facial hair, though brown intsead of gray, same haircut, same face, though it’s hard to make out due to the bandage. Heck, there’s even the same scars.

(P.S. This means he could be a clone of Big Boss as well, or that this could be a dream sequence or a flashback of some sort.)

You’ll note in Part 1 the image is of a man with similarly brown hair rather than gray.

There’s also a burned man in both the trailer for Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain.

3. Moby Dick Studios is obviously a fake studio

If I’m wrong about this, then Moby Dick Studios is the most brilliant viral marketing developer ever.

There is no information about Mr. Mogren, other than the fact that his first name is likely just a scrambled up version of Kojima, as in Hideo Kojima the creator of Metal Gear, and his last name contains the word “ogre” as in Kojima’s Project Ogre.

Mr. Mogren not only posted just one video on YouTube (on the official Moby Dick Studios YouTube page) he only joined YouTube on December 4th of this year, just prior to the VGAs. There’s no way this no-name developer gets a spot at the VGAs with no website; likewise, I simply can’t imagine a fledgling studio coming out with a trailer that looks this good.

I suspect the fake studio was given its name thanks to the giant, burning whale we see leap into the air and eat a helicopter toward the end of the trailer.

That doesn’t sound very Metal Gear Solid to me, to be quite honest, but I wonder if it isn’t actually part of a hallucination. This would make sense sincephantom eye syndrome is something that occurs after losing an eye, which the protagonist in the trailer appears to have just lost. Phantom eye syndrome can result in hallucinations. So can whatever drugs he might be on in that hospital.

Kojima was spotted wearing a Moby Dick Studios shirt at the VGAs apparently, so we can pretty much put this one to rest.

That being said, there may be hints to the real game in both the title and location of the studio, though I can’t say what those might be as of now.

4. The Logo

Perhaps most telling are the hidden words buried inside the game’s logo itself. Here’s the logo:

And here’s the logo filled in with the words Metal Gear Solid V (originally discovered by sleuths at NeoGaf):

5. The trailer itself

Here’s the trailer:

Note all the moments of text. “What happened?” “Am I in a dream?” “Is this real?”

Question after question about the reality of what’s going on. This could allude to the hallucinations I mentioned earlier, but it could also be referring to the reality of the game itself. Sort of a meta-commentary on what we’re experiencing while watching the trailer.

Then it says, Open your eyes.

Here’s the trailer for Ground Zeroes also. Note the bandaged man in the hospital in Phantom Pain, and the burned man boarding the helicopter in Ground Zeroes.

Both these games look to have been made with the same engine (the FOX engine to be precise) and so far as I know, the FOX engine hasn’t been licensed out to any brand new devs in Sweden.

I’m not sure what the woman at the end of the trailer says, but it sounds a bit like “V has come to(o)” though who knows? I’d say this is pretty obviously Metal Gear Solid V either way.

So yeah, nothing too original here (sorry) except maybe the phantom eye syndrome observation which I don’t think anyone has made yet (though I could be wrong.)

Use this as an open thread. What do you think? Is there any doubt at this point that this game is Metal Gear Solid V?

Update:

So, I realize now that Big Boss isn’t graying in the above trailer/photo. That is some pretty absurd lighting if it makes him look that silvery. My mistake.

Second, I also realize that Big Boss’s eye was damaged while imprisoned in MGS3. I thought there might still be room to work this scene into that plot somehow, but I think it’s probably more likely that this is a clone, a dream sequence, or a hallucination. I haven’t played a Metal Gear game since the PS2 days, so my memory of the games is a bit foggy (and yes, this means I’ve only played a small part of MGS4 so far.)

Last, some people are saying this might be a Vita game. I don’t think so. Moby Dick Studios may be fake, but they very clearly have the PS3 and Xbox 360 logos at the bottom of the page.

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I hope this game would game the gameplay of Peace Walker and survival thingie from MGS3:Snake Eater and NOT dozens of extra long cutscene like MGS4. Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with cutscene but most MGS4 cutscenes have ridiculous length. It almost like watching interactive movie rather than playing a game. Not too mention the game breaking octo-camo. Unless you go for Big Boss Trophy/enblem, MGS4 is a piece of cake.

I hope Kojima back to the right track. I know his fondness of movie, but just not turn video games into interactive movies, please.

on topic: If the protagonist is indeed Big Boss, that would make MGS5 a prequel, not a sequel since [spoiler!]Big Boss alrady died in MGS4[spoiler] Maybe they should name it MGS0 or something if that really is Big Boss himself.

Okay, So I know it’s a longshot, but what if the entire Metal Gear Series was just s gigantic dream? Snake wakes up from a coma, after a car accident, with an arm missing and a missing eye. He was just being used for something greater than himself. Everything that happened was just false. Just sayin

wow me and my brother came up with this when we watched the trailer. I just think that would make people so angry we just laughed but i dont think i t cant be because of the MGR.R and it wouldnt add up. Unless snake dreams that he is a cyborg ninja and a blond kid from MGS2 .

I think the man with the eye bandage and the missing arm is most likely Grey Fox from the first metal gear. And the boy in cage may be null because they hinted at him being a child solder. then the bald man that looks like a snake i think might be Python the man sent to kill Big Boss. thats just what i think but i may be wrong.

This video has so many tangents and references. Most obvious is that this is a red herring so people don’t snoop about for the real Metal Gear V. The expression “chasing the white whales” derived from the book Moby Dick; and CEO “Joakim” Mogren, Joakim being an anagram of Kojima and Mogren is “Gomen(sorry in japanese)+r,” or someone else’s last name. The missing left arm could also be a reference to the Metal Gear Rising opening sequence versus “Sam.” The copy-pasted hospital patients, could all be clones of soldiers and only the one’s cloned from Big Boss would be sneaky enough to dodge the enemies. OR this can just be a fever dream/glitch as with Metal Gear Solid 2+3. **First sign of hallucination is the white flower that falls from the hook-arm, and when the protagonist looks at his lap, while being helped up, there’s nothing there. Second is that the main character has no bullet wounds on his torso, despite the entire crowd around him having been shot. As for the ‘bosses’ MGS is a Konami game, just like Silent Hill, so it could be a small joke to cross over the two series.